Health Risks – Alcohol
The fact is that ALL alcohol is a poison in your body. Also it dulls down your sensitivity to your feelings, “We’d both grown up with an alcoholic parent, and knew the misery this brought even in adulthood. I was amazed to find that, like me, she’d experienced a frustrating pattern with unavailable men in her life. She’d been involved with alcoholics and dope smokers in the past, too, and none of her relationships had lasted very long.
Alcohol and the barbiturate drugs used in tranquillisers are described as having a downer effect on one’s body and mind. They deaden sensitivity and awareness and thus appear to remove such things as fear of airplanes, and anxiety in contact with groups of people. But they do not remove the cause of these tensions; only temporarily subdue our awareness of them. Thus, a middle aged woman who had a horror of spiders, during a test on the effects of alcohol, could only enter a room with a spider in it after she had consumed a quarter of a bottle of vodka. When the alcohol’s effects wore off, so did her courage.
After I experienced a devastating stroke leaving me paralysed I underwent many tests and even more doctors examinations. Something that struck me was the first question they asked at each examination was, “How much do you drink and smoke?”
When I assured them I didn’t drink or smoke, they said I had an excellent chance of living longer.
One study quantified the cost to the UK of all forms of alcohol misuse in 2001 as £18.5 to 20 billion. All economic health costs in the United States in 2006 have been estimated at $223.5 billion.[173]
Many people suffering from anxiety and depression drink intentionally to reduce stress and improve mood (23, 24). This may work for a few hours, but will worsen overall mental health and lead to a vicious cycle.
Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for cancers of the mouth, throat, colon, breast, and liver
Even light alcohol consumption, of 1 drink per day, is linked to a 20% increased risk of mouth and throat cancer (59, 60).
The risk increases with the daily amount consumed. More than 4 drinks daily appear to cause a five-fold increase in the risk of mouth and throat cancer, and also increase the risk of breast, colon and liver cancer (58, 59, 61, 62).
What Happens To Your Body When You Give Up Alcohol
The physical and mental changes that take place after you’ve ditched the booze. Did you ever stop to think those happy hours were actually making you less happy? Easing off alcohol—for even just one month—has been found to make influential changes in people’s health. Not only can you can make serious progress toward increasing your chances of losing weight, but you can also lower your cancer risk, boost your heart health, and even have better sex.
If, like many millions of Americans, you drink alcoholic beverages frequently, you might be interested to know how your body may change if you cut out beer, wine and liquor for a while. Whether it’s for a day, a week, or even a month, it can make a difference. Check ’em out now and revisit them when you need to strengthen your willpower.
While I was working as a psychotherapist, an alcoholic told me something of his effects of stopping drinking. His doctor had told him that if he didn’t stop he would be dead very soon. But he said that really apply because when he stop drinking it wasn’t death that was confronting him but all the emotions that alcohol had prevented him from facing – everything from anxiety about paying his rent, to the awfulness of feeling what had happened in his relationships.
Cure
We have now treated sixty alcoholics, and half are no longer alcoholic after one treatment of psychedelic therapy; so we do see that these drugs such LSD and has great potential for changing people.
Here is a woman’s description of her first ‘psychedelic drug’ experience.
Example: I am so grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to experience that state of being. The interesting thing is that I expected the experience to feel alien but actually it all felt like a very familiar world for me – I felt immediately at home, in a world that I could navigate and comprehend. The imagery, the language, and the being seemed “first nature”. Much, much more so than everyday “reality”.
I felt that I was able to appreciate the whole of my issue all at once (unlike our everyday awareness that can only focus on certain aspects at any one time) and that the component parts were “activated”. Since then these activations have been growing and joining up. See Life’s Little Secrets
Cancer Research
According to Cancer Research UK, alcohol causes seven types of cancer, including breast, mouth and bowel cancer.
“All types of alcoholic drink can cause cancer,” warns the charity.
“Alcohol gets broken down into a harmful chemical and can also affect our body’s chemical signals, making cancer more likely to develop.”
Research into the causal mechanisms has also shed light on the destructive impact alcohol can have on DNA.
Despite the billions raised, invested and spent on cancer research, a cure for cancer has not been found. That speaks to the intractability of cancerous cells, which are hard to stop once they proliferate. However, the knowledge gained in the pursuit of finding a cure has been invaluable. We now have a much more sophisticated understanding of the causes and risk factors. One stone unturned is alcohol consumption.
According to Cancer Research UK, alcohol causes seven types of cancer, including breast, mouth and bowel cancer.
“All types of alcoholic drink can cause cancer,” warns the charity.
“Alcohol gets broken down into a harmful chemical and can also affect our body’s chemical signals, making cancer more likely to develop.”
Research into the causal mechanisms has also shed light on the destructive impact alcohol can have on DNA.
READ MORE: Cancer warning: 1 in 6 UK adults have vitamin deficiency linked to ‘tumour progression’
Alcohol causes 7 types of cancer, including breast, mouth and bowel cancer© Getty Images
“Alcohol is broken down via a strict process and converted into energy. And it’s acetaldehyde, at the centre of this chain, that’s the weakest link,” explains Cancer Research UK.
